משלי, פרק כ״ו, פסוק ו׳

Trying to save effort by relying on an unsuitable person often leads to heavy damage and double work. Entrusting an important mission to a fool, simply to make life easier, is a surefire way to sabotage one's own goals and suffer destructive consequences.

The primary approach among commentators highlights the deep irony in choosing an unworthy messenger. A person who sends someone else on a task usually does so to rest his own feet and avoid the journey. However, a fool lacks the mental capacity to deliver a message accurately [רלב״ג, אלשיך, מצודת דוד]. By relying on such a person, the sender effectively cuts off his own feet, ensuring the mission will never successfully reach its destination [שטיינזלץ, עמנואל הרומי]. Rather than saving energy, the sender creates far more work. Because the fool inevitably alters the message and reverses its original intent, the sender is forced to get up and wear out his own feet, or the feet of other messengers, going back and forth repeatedly just to repair the damage [רש״י, אלשיך, מצודת דוד].

In the end, the sender is forced to absorb a massive amount of anger and injustice, taking it in as naturally as a person drinking water [שטיינזלץ, עמנואל הרומי]. The fool distorts the communication, and the receiver, believing these twisted words genuinely reflect the sender's intentions, becomes furious at the sender [רש״י, אלשיך, מצודת דוד]. As a result, the sender suffers unearned rage, confused replies, and severe damage, all because he placed his trust in a foolish individual [רלב״ג, אבן עזרא, עמנואל הרומי].

An alternative approach offers an allegorical reading. In this view, the injustice absorbed represents material desires, which completely intoxicate the fool. Just as heavy drinking causes a person to lose physical stability and effectively cripples his legs, the fool becomes spiritually crippled by his worldly cravings. Operating from this unstable state, the fool spreads words of nonsense designed to chop down and undermine the very foundations of wisdom, which act as the vital legs that hold up and stabilize the human spirit [מלבי״ם].